DESPITE attempts by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki to defend himself against allegations of misconduct, netizens were not buying into his argument, which had actually backfired on the official.
Leading the ridicule against Azam was prominent cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, popularly known as Zunar.
He sketched a comic strip on Azam’s apparent defence, with a caption, “Hasil siasatan mendapati…apa komen anda?” (Investigations show that…what is your comment?)
Not to be outdone, netizen Moh Mus responded by sketching a comic strip showing Azam pinning the blame on Maggie Simpson, the baby protagonist in the long running animated series, The Simpsons.
Two weeks ago, Azam and his family was accused of holding substantial amount of shares in private companies, in breach of the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993.
It was claimed that between 2015 and 2016, Azam owned 930,000 shares in Gets Global Bhd as at April 30, 2015 and a further 1,029,000 shares as at March 31, 2016.
On Jan 5, Azam told at a press conference that he did not see it as an issue claiming that it his younger brother, Nasir Baki had used his trading account to purchase some shares.
But Azam’s defence backfired as it was later revealed that trading using another person’s account was in violation of the Section 25 of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act 1991 (SICDA), where every securities account opened with a central depository must be in the name of the beneficial owner of the deposited securities or in the name of an authorised nominee.
In addition, Section 29A of SICDA stipulates that all dealings in securities shall be done only by the beneficial owner of the securities or an authorised nominee.
Using comics to keep officials in check
With that, Azam is now being investigated by the Securities Commission (SC) and if found guilty, he could be liable to a fine not exceeding RM2 mil, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or, both.
On that note, user Brandon Boyd urged cartoonists to continue using their art to mock public officials who keep using nonsensical arguments to defend their transgressions.
(Please continue with your comics. These higher officials think they can escape public scrutiny using moronic excuses. If it was done by lower ranking officials, they would have suffered all types of punishments)
Netizen Naekeel said in a jest:
(What a pity that I don’t have brother living in Malaysia) – Jan 8, 2022
